product features

MicroRespirometer is based on a patented technology that allows it to ‘differentiate” between the sample evolved CO2 and the pre-existing CO2 in the system. Because of this capability, a MicroRespirometer can sensitively quantify minute amount of sample evolved CO2, with accuracy and precision, regardless of the level of the pre-existing CO2 in the system. The MicroRespirometer technology, therefore, is totally different from the systems that monitor headspace CO2 concentrations or the systems that exhaustively absorb the CO2. (The systems that exhaustively absorb CO2 would never be a true real-time method because they can never finish absorbing all the evolved CO2 in the system.) 

How does a MicroRespirometer work? First, it establishes a steady-state CO2 absorption/evolution between the reagent and the sample (no physical contact between the two) within a 10-minute pre-assay shaking period. After the steady state is established, the CO2 absorption rate of the reagent equals the CO2evolution rate of the sample in the system. This is equivalent to the situation that the stream of the evolved CO2 is instantaneously and quantitatively “flowing into” (absorbed by) the reagent. The MicroRespirometer then determines the CO2 absorption rate of the reagent as the respiration rate of the sample.

The MicroRes technology sets a new standard for respiration rate determination with sensitivity (sub µLCO2/h), simplicity (test on site without a laboratory), speed, reliability (excellent resolution at low respiration rates) and low cost (<$0.75/test).

The MicroRes technology is a practical solution for real-time determination of microbial activities: a long-sought alternative to the traditional cultural methods, which require 2-5 days to obtain a result. The MicroRes technology thus has immediate applications to real-time food quality/food safety examinations, cell respiration, paint bacterial tests, agrochemical bacterial tests and other biodegradtion rate tests.

The MicroRes technology has been tested and validated in many academic studies over the years Some MicroRes technology related articles published in the peer-reviewed technical journals: 

Hsieh, Y.P. and Y-H P. Hsieh, 2000. Determination of carbon dioxide evolution rates using a novel non-instrumental microrespirometer.

Journal of AOAC International 83 (2):277–81. doi: 10.1093/jaoac/83.2.277

Hsieh, Y.P., G.A. Anderson, R.O. Miller & D. Nemours, 2020. Non-instrumental Real-time Soil Respiration Rate and Soil Microbial Biomass Carbon Determinations. Communications in Soil Science and Plant Analysis 51(19): 2479-2490. https//doi.org/10.1080/00103624.2020.1836205

Li, X., and Y.-H. P. Hsieh. 2003. Comparison of the real-time microrespirometer and aerobic plate count methods for determination of microbial quality in ground beef. Journal of Food Science 68 (9):2758–63. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2621.2003.tb05801.x.

Ren, Z., and Y.-H. P. Hsieh. 2005. Real-time determination of microbial activity of pasteurized fluid milk using a novel microrespirometer method. Journal of AOAC International 88 (6):1756–61. doi:10.1093/jaoac/88.6.1756.

Sparda, A., R. O. Miller, G. Anderson, and Y. P. Hsieh. 2017. Real-time soil CO2 respiration rate determination and the comparison between the infrared gas analyzer and microrespirometer (MicroRes) methods. Communications in Soil Science and Plant Analysis 48:214–21. doi:10.1080/00103624.2016.1254235

For your special need or application of the MicroRes technology, please contact us for a free technical consultation.